This is build 2.1 for me, I added few bits, mainly on history and playability of mercs

History:

-The RPG Happens in 30 EE, 30 Years after The Great World War
-The Great World War started as a three-way war between 3 factions of super nations: Northern Alliance (USA/Canada/Japan/SKorea/Russia) and South American Union (South and central America) versus European League (Western Europe) versus The New Assyrian Empire (Middle East and Africa)
-War started when The New Assyrian Empire massed forces and relentlessly attacked South American Union, which has the only Space Elevator
-European League took advantage and wanted to cripple The New Assyrian Empire, but first supernation to fall.
-China and India forges a non-aggression pact with New Assyrian Empire
-Northern Alliance allied with South American Union and gave a serious challenge but ultimately loses when China attacked and took over Russia in Siberia
-China and India forges alliances (allegiance) to New Assyrian Empire; Empire assimilates them
-The New Assyrian Empire changes its name to The World Empire, declares world government
-The World Empire changes the date to 1 EE, Era of the Empire
-The World Empire looks to conquer the space colonies and the moon next. Space Colony Liberty leads the defense from space.
-Rebel groups during their 30 years of reign try to create chaos but The World Empire beats them soundly and exterminates them
-One rebel group is unlike others, planned from 1 EE to make their move in 30 EE, when the Empire military begins to amass to space and thin the forces on Earth.
-Will originally take place in California and focus on local conflicts. If time and interest allows it, it will expand to a global, and then, solar conflict

Factions:

The World Empire

-The world government, a monarchy/aristocratic mixed government
-Largest military in the solar system, consists of Leo, Aries etc... (Wing units) but assimilates other units from other nations
-Ruled by a young and enigmatic king
-Based in The Middle East; main capital is a glitzy skyscraper-laden skyline, becomes the culture capital
-Shanghai becomes the undisputed commerce and trade capital of the world
-Lower-level officials have grown increasingly corrupt with high taxes and lower quality of life among world citizens while officials get richer
-Employs mercenaries to get rid of political enemies without getting their hands dirty

Firebrand Revolution

-Planned by Samuel Firebrand, leader of the movement from 1 E to 29 EE (Deceased)
-Samuel, an ex-Northern Alliance espionage specialist, vows to use more unconventional tactics (theft, espionage, kidnapping, intimidation) to attack the increasingly corrupt World Empire
-Recruits multi-skilled personnel to their ranks with MS piloting at the top of their priority, as well as highly skilled miners and metallurgists
-Based in an abandoned mine shaft; appeals to miners sick of Empire officials taking a large slice of their mined materials for their own personal wealth
-Also employs mercenaries
-Makes mining-oriented grunt units on the outside; refurbishes war units on the inside
-Considerably small; less than 100 personnel, around 10 war-ready mobile suits (more or less depending on entry and participation level)
-Profit gains from mining

Vegas Underground

-"Black Market" neutral side
-untouched by the Empire because it becomes the top mercenary hotspot in the West
-Known to have been dealing illegally acquired mobile suit weapons, has a weapons/development lab
-Utilized mainly by The Empire; Firebrand looks to grab some local talents there
-Player characters not allowed to align with the Black Market

Mobile Suits:

These are just guidelines, but it will be a mixed-universe selection of mecha, particularly for Firebrand's Revolution. The World Empire will have mostly AC units and AEU units (Gundam 00). Since The World Empire has taken over the world, they can use other MSes as well (but has to be a good reason, i.e. ace pilot)

-If time and interest allows, MS upgrades will be available including Gundams from Alternate Universe series and upper-tier grunt units

-Players may play on 2 main sides: World Empire vs Firebrand Revolution.
-Players may start out as neutrally-aligned mercenaries, could align with World Empire or Firebrand Revolution with contract

Personal notes:

-These are my latest ideas, revised through feedback and suggestions in the other thread and PMs
-Lists of inspirations: Gundam Wing, Code Geass, American Revolution, Final Fantasy
-I have a fancier paragraph text for official submission but I feel bullet point may be more clear to understand for a discussion thread
-Willing to take full responsibility as a GM including more backstory, settings detail and moving the plot

Hopefully that made it just a bit clearer regarding mercs' playability...

For the record, I'm probably not going to submit my FMP! idea this time around. It was full of holes and needed some ironing out when I submitted it last time and the more I look at it the more I keep finding things that need fixing so it would work smoothly. Normally I would've done this already but little things in life keep cropping up (like deadlines for school) and keep me from working on fleshing things out. Next time though.

SNT1 I do have a question though, when you say anything up to UC0083 do you mean 'up to' as in any unit in the field up until December 31, 0082UC; Or 'up to and including' as in anything fielded in Operation Stardust is fair game, because if so, dibs on the Gerbera Tetra.

IAN: (Shaking fist up at sky in a storm of GN particles) Science does not WORK this way, Setsuna!!!

Maybe it should have said "some exceptions" instead of "some excepted"

Anyways, criteria says Stardust Memory units are allowed (I doubt everyone knows each unit's specific rollout dates), EXCEPT a few units... that I find may be too powerful, specs are too high IMO. I likely wouldn't allow: GP-01fb, GP02A, GP03, GP04 (that means Tetra's probably a no), and any of the mobile armors. Because yes, Someone's probably crazy enough to think they can walk around with a WMD-equipped unit and/or fly around in a giant refrigerator of weapons ^-^

Maybe it should have said "some exceptions" instead of "some excepted"

Anyways, criteria says Stardust Memory units are allowed (I doubt everyone knows each unit's specific rollout dates), EXCEPT a few units... that I find may be too powerful, specs are too high IMO. I likely wouldn't allow: GP-01fb, GP02A, GP03, GP04 (that means Tetra's probably a no), and any of the mobile armors. Because yes, Someone's probably crazy enough to think they can walk around with a WMD-equipped unit and/or fly around in a giant refrigerator of weapons ^-^

OFF TOPIC: I've been looking for an old fridge like that for my man cave. They're amazing, flames or no flames.

@TBZ-For your official submission, may i suggest you make a simple point form explanation of the game like SNT1s. Then list the indepth history afterwards. I dunno about everyone else, but i am very lazy, and would rather read something set up like SNT1s. Don't get me wrong, i think your submission is fine as is. But I think you could steal a few votes by making your submission more accesiable to lazy simpletons like me.

@Snt1 Remember how awfully unfair flying mobile suits were in another rpg we played at? Since you're using a mixture of mobile suits, are you going to use their in-universe statistics? It might be a bit of work, but i'd suggest using a bit of a bell curve for the stats. And limit flying mobile suits, unless it's like an aries or something like that.

Wedge14 wrote:@Snt1 Remember how awfully unfair flying mobile suits were in another rpg we played at? Since you're using a mixture of mobile suits, are you going to use their in-universe statistics? It might be a bit of work, but i'd suggest using a bit of a bell curve for the stats. And limit flying mobile suits, unless it's like an aries or something like that.

Or just gloss over stats by broadly classifying suits as "grunt" or "high performance" or whatever. Leos and Zaku IIs could be treated as roughly on the same footing without worrying about maximum ground running speeds and empty tonnage.

@Snt1 Remember how awfully unfair flying mobile suits were in another rpg we played at? Since you're using a mixture of mobile suits, are you going to use their in-universe statistics? It might be a bit of work, but i'd suggest using a bit of a bell curve for the stats. And limit flying mobile suits, unless it's like an aries or something like that.

Yeah, people will tend to overrate air power. They do have their advantages, but they also have some disadvantage (for example, it would be extremely hard to defend a base against ground forces using only air power) With the choice of eras I'm proposing there won't be a whole lot of choices for aerial units either. With that said I would try to keep the battle scenarios and battlegrounds in such a way that aerial and ground units will have roughly the same footing (i.e. no over-ocean battles that would give aerial units way too much advantages)

I plan to use stats if they're convenient (need the acceleration of Kämpfer vs Gelgoog Marine? Head on over to MAHQ.net!) If not we would go by what Fritz says, when comparing different-universe mecha, and be realistic with the powar-level estimations (Leo = Zaku II = Tieren seems realistic IMO) and use the TV shows/OVA (not games) to gauge their actual performance

Wedge14 wrote:OFF TOPIC: I've been looking for an old fridge like that for my man cave. They're amazing, flames or no flames.

@TBZ-For your official submission, may i suggest you make a simple point form explanation of the game like SNT1s. Then list the indepth history afterwards. I dunno about everyone else, but i am very lazy, and would rather read something set up like SNT1s. Don't get me wrong, i think your submission is fine as is. But I think you could steal a few votes by making your submission more accesiable to lazy simpletons like me.

Don't worry. I've got my own headache from reading it (wrote it at 3AMish) so it needs to be redone. Just been busy with my A&P studies. Once I finish here I'll get to tearing it down and splitting the history and game aspects in two.

TRANS AM!
Yes, it's a V8.
Yes, it was a Trans Am before there was "TRANS AM."
Yes, it's mine.

The War
It’s January 1946. With Germany now allied with the US and Great Britain, and the Soviet Union turning once again on a former ‘ally’, the world is still in the grips of conflict. In a drastically different WWII you are a pilot of what some refer to as 'Iron Joes’ or ‘Iron Ivans’. These turboshaft powered “Power Armors” are the next step in mechanized arms and armor, rising over 2 to 2 stories tall hefting large guns and machine cannons over the wastes of Europe and the Far East. Pilots of these machines are drafted from the Tank and Infantry divisions on either side. These two or three man machines have proven themselves more mobile than their tank predecessors and rival aircraft as the 'it weapon' that many enlistees wish to use to 'fight the other side'.
The crème de la crème of both sides (Allied OSS/MI5 vs Communist KGB/MSS) have been molded respectively into a task force. One each side hopes would tip the war in their favor using the best and brightest their countries can offer.
The question is… who will survive?

The Western Free Allied Forces
- The United States of America
- British Commonwealth
- West France
- Democratic Republic of Spain
- The Greater Third German Reich

The armor would be around the height of a small house, 20 feet tall at the most for the 3 man heavier armor, around 10-15 feet for escort/fast assault 2 man recon armor. Operation of them would be similar to ground pounder GMs of 08th MS team, but using turbine powerplants and be reminiscent of tank warfare.

Nationalists from both sides wishing to 'escape the war and help their families' are ENCOURAGED! Japanese tankers driving British and US tanks in 'Bushido' like brigades looking to free Japan; Polish drivers wishing to crush Germany for what they did in 1939..

This game is a sort of Band of Brothers or The Pacific with giant mecha.

I'm thinking of doing a sort of TFTF lead with an OSS/MI5 team of special operations tankers operating their own weapons, with a KGB/MSS equivelant from the same line meeting and countering each other across the globe.

And here’s a bit of backstory.

It was early 1942.
With the death of a schizophrenic Adolf Hitler at the hands of a band of officers following the failure of the alliance with Japan, news traveled quickly through the multiple intelligence services all over the world. Italy, already taking a beating from bearing the brunt of the North African Campaign and supporting German and Vichy forces against Allied British, Canadian, and American armor was the first to collapse in a surrender agreement after a disillusioned army had turned on Mussiloni who too fell into a state of neurotic paranoia.

With the collapse of Italy, The Soviets met in talks with British and American delegates as to how to go about wrapping up the war with the Axis seemingly falling to pieces before them.

However, unbeknownst to the Russian commanders, Nazi Germany had in the few short months after Hitler's death, denounced the "Jewish" issue and handed over documents and practitioners of this atrocity to the Western Allies. Why? The Soviets had already taken up the 'Jewish Problem" flag under Josef Stalin as an even greater 'great purge'. Their goal was to smash a weakened Germany and annex them and their French and Italian neighbors before the Western Allies could muster a response.

With Germany begrudgingly accepting interim terms, they folded their forces in with those of the Western Allies in secret; an end result of France and Poland almost going rogue feeling betrayed at the actions of the ‘Imperialist Westerners’

With the political world now in as much a mire as the real world, the war itself ground to another crawl as if it were 1915 all over again. This gave Russia a chance to push for more power in the east, threatening Japan and its attempted annex of China while the lines in the West continued to stall.

Japan, at this time, actually had maintained American diplomatic relations when Emperor Hirohito disavowed and executed his military commanders after Nanking and Korea became a public affair within the British Empire and America. What resulted was a country that under the stipulation of remaining neutral would receive the support they wanted from the US.

However, the Soviets used this as a perfect opportunity to strike, supporting Mao Zedong in the success of a Communist Chinese superstate as it annexed a majority of SE Asia. Japan and the Western Allies cried foul at this, Chang Kai Shek’s forces all but massacred by Chinese and Soviet forces as they advanced south and east across the Middle east and Southern Asia.
They both then set their eyes on Japan and Australia..

On December 25th 1944, The Soviet Union and the new Peoples Republic of Indochina (PRIC), declared open war on the British Commonwealth, the German remnants, and America calling them 'traitors' to the cause of ‘freedom for the oppressed peoples of the world’. On the front lines a new weapon soon appeared within the Soviet ranks: A bipedal 'tank' loosely translated as "Power Armor". These hefty, bipedal and heavily armored weapons could be built just as quickly as the proposed T-34 Tank. Stalin supported these weapons seeing them as an even more awesome weapon for his people to stand behind; a battalion of Iron Giants to crush the indulgent, imperialistic, and Capitalist west.

And with an assault in January 1945 via air-dropped armor over Japan, the main islands were soon taken within a matter of months. It was brutal; no quarter was spared. Those left of Japan's people and government fled to Australia in an attempt to regroup and form a counteroffensive with the help of Australia.

It never came. Within 2 months Communist forces were already landing in Northern Australia.

It didn’t take long for the Communists to spread on the European front as well. With Communist supplied Free French and Polish SFR forces, Power Armored attacks began to spring up in the summer of 1945. Germany was hit hard by these attacks, and the Western Allies having to quickly adapt to the style being used by the Soviet forces caused the lines to fall back toward Berlin itself.

America, Britain, and the Third German Reich needed something to counter the new "Iron Giant" weapon that had been deployed by the Communists, taking only months to flatten Australia (which by November was now firmly in Russian and PRIC hands)

Their own Power armor would soon debut in Vietnam in December 1945; much to the shock of the Communists, as it was believed the Americans had been concentrating on Nuclear weapons. In truth, the US now had both. And a Nuclear strike on the Sino-Russian Saigon stronghold in January 1946 would soon spool up the war into something even bloodier than had been seen in human history.

It was truly East versus West . It was now a war of ideologies, with two legged metal men beating each other senseless across the world.

TRANS AM!
Yes, it's a V8.
Yes, it was a Trans Am before there was "TRANS AM."
Yes, it's mine.

As the rules mentioned, to officially submit the idea, you need to PM it to me with everything you want posted in the Voting Poll inside of CODE tags. If you need to resend it to me for some reason, typos or corrections or whatever, make it clear in the subject or outside the CODE tags and I'll delete the old version. As usual, I'll post a list of whoever sends me a PM so they know I got it.

Also, because we aren't allowing ideas that don't have Game Masters this time around, I'm assuming the person sending me the PM is going to be the GM of that RPG, should it win the poll. If you don't want to be the GM, get someone else to send me the PM.

The deadline for submissions to be in my inbox is 11:59 PM EST this Tuesday (March 15th). At that time, this thread gets locked, I post the Voting Poll, delete those PMs, and get ready for a root canal the next afternoon.